Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019 and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday that international disputes resulting from tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump hurt farmers but that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s county-by-county methodology for computing the extent of damage was flawed, leading to overpayment....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Wednesday his agency is still "in the throes of constructing" an aid package for farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs, but he is not prepared to say when it will be ready. Perdue said the Agriculture Department is reviewing feedback from producers about the strengths and weaknesses of last year's relief package, valued at up to $12 billion. This year's package could range between $15 billion and $20 billion, Perdue projected. He also predicted that the relief amount will be enough to offset losses that farmers are facing as a result of lower...

BAY CITY, Tex. — “I’m gonna mash ‘em out.” Ryan Ashcraft spotted some cattle loitering in standing water under a clump of trees and came out of a long, sweeping curve in his small helicopter to drop toward a clearing so narrow it seemed the blades might give the treetops a haircut — and potentially send Mr. Ashcraft and his passenger on a one-way trip to the afterlife. Mr. Ashcraft, 22, dipped toward the cattle and then pulled up sharply and hovered; the maneuver made the blades produce a sharp POP-POP-POP-POP-POP. The animals hate the noise, which puts many of...

The Department is currently working with Texas A&M AgriLife for donations of animal hay and feed. If you would like to donate hay, please call, text or email the TDA staff listed at the number listed below and we find the closest location to you where the greatest need may be met. ...If you have transportation services that you can offer to help bring hay to the Coast from throughout Texas, we need your help! Please give us a call. [contact info below]

France must repay the EU €1.07 billion ($1.2 billion) in agricultural aid paid to farmers due to fraud and mistakes over a four-year period, the European Commission said on Tuesday. The money, about 2 percent of the €40 billion that France has received from Brussels between 2008 and 2012 under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, must be repaid in three installments up to 2017, a European source said. France was penalized for failing to check farmers’ claims for subsidies, especially on environmental issues and calculating the area of arable land. …

We got the 'ouisiana boogie and the... delta blues! We got country swing and rockabilly too! We got jazz country western and Chicago blues! It's the greatest music that you ever knew! It's American music!

Some good entertainment left Times are CDT Between 5 and 7 p.m. Jason Mraz Jeff Tweedy Norah Jones Kenny Chesney Between 7 and 11 p.m. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds John Mellencamp Neil Young Willie Nelson

It's no secret that many times the federal government can spend your tax dollars in ways that might leave you scratching your head or even make you angry. But wait until you hear what I-Team Investigator Stephen Stock dug up and who is getting your money now. William Roderick Kent was 87-years-old when he died. He now rests in a mausoleum at Woodlawn Park Cemetery North along Miami's 8th Street. Kent lived in a nice home in Coconut Grove. He owned property throughout South Florida, including a place in multi-story building in Coral Gables. So why -- even two years...

(NOTE: Online version not available) Jim Salenski is a dairy farmer about 8 miles from the [Catholic] church in Rugby, [North Dakota]. He echoes a complaint heard from coast to coast that the federal government’s farm subsidy program is driving small farmers out of business. Studies show that as much as three-quarters of the federal support goes to the top 10 percent of the producers, which include Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, and other “hobby farmer” investors. “The more you farm, the more you get,” Salenski sums up the government policy. His German-Russian parents bought the farm in 1932. Jim, the...

The Grannys Strike against Peta. Like David and Goliath Linda and Karen threw rocks at Peta in Norfolk Va.

Even before Willie Nelson strums his first chord Sunday at this year's Farm Aid show in Tinley Park, one of the concert's missions will have been accomplished: Upholding the family farm as an American icon. But how much the Farm Aid organization helps those farmers financially is a different matter. The percentage of funds given away by the group is exceedingly low compared with money eaten up by expenses or not used. Last year, Farm Aid donated less than 28 percent of its revenue, according to a review of the non-profit's records and policies. An organization should be giving away...

Farm Aid FraudDuring a speech in Michigan I pointed out that groups like Farm Aid and Willie Nelson are doing more to get rid of farmers than to benefit them. Farm Aid funds are siphoned into groups that are filing lawsuits against family farms. Nearly a dozen lawsuits have been filed against families in Iowa. In Minnesota, I personally know three families with lawsuits against them for operating a livestock facility or hoping to build one. As I continue to do more research into Farm Aid, I am amazed at the extent of the ties between Farm Aid and the...

PARIS: France's government offered $525 million worth of aid yesterday to drought-stricken farmers whose animals died by the millions and whose crops withered in a heatwave estimated to have killed up to 10,000 people. The package of funds, deferred tax payments, cheap loans and money for transporting fodder was welcomed by the head of France's main farmers' union as going "in the right direction." "The atmosphere in the countryside is extremely morose," Jean-Michel Lemetayer, the president of union FNSEA, said. "Every day without rain aggravates the situation." A day after promising that "everything will be done" to correct health system...

The Bush administration said today that it would provide $752 million in emergency aid for livestock producers in the West and elsewhere. The move could aid a Republican Senate candidate as well as drought-stricken ranchers. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced the new relief program in a teleconference with Representative John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who is in one of the closest Senate races in the country with control of the chamber at stake in November. "This program will provide immediate assistance to producers who need it the most," Ms. Veneman said. The high-profile help from the White House...